Building structure covering



June 28, 1955 H. w. ROBINSON BUILDING STRUCTURE COVERING Filed Aug. 22, 1952 Hausa W. AoAwvso/v ATTORNQYS.

United States Patent 0 BUILDING STRUCTURE COVERING Homer W. Robinson, Stamford, Conn. Application August 22, 1952, Serial No. 305,782

5 Claims. (Cl. 108-9) This invention relates to a building structure covering as exemplified by the shingled covering of a building roof or the covering on the side of a building formed by clapboards.

One of the objects is to provide such a covering in a form having a longer life than is usual. is to provide such a covering in a form having a service life as long as prior art coverings of comparable type yet which will use less materials than the latter.

A specific example of the invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an end view of a slanting building roof incorporating the invention;

Fig. 2 is the same as Fig. 1 excepting that it illustrates a modification; and

Fig. 3 shows the covering of a building side wall of a type which may also enjoy the advantages of the present invention.

Both Figures 1 and 2 show a building structure roof formed by slanting rafters 1 running from a ridge pole 2 down to a plate 3.

In Fig. 1 furring strips 4, which may be the conventional size are applied to the rafters 1 in a new fashion in that near the ridge pole 2 the furring strips are spaced widely apart and downwardly along the rafters the furring strips are spaced closer and closer together until they are quite close together at the plate 3.

Conventional wood shingles 5 are next laid on the furring strips 4 and properly nailed down. This new construction differs from the old in that downwardly from the ridge pole 2 the shingles are progressively overlapped more extensively relative to each other until at the lowermost portion of the roof the shingles have the maximum overlap. The effect of this new construction is to provide a building structure covering that angles from the horizontal plane with the covering being of greater thickness at the lower portions than at the upper portions. Although a progressively increasing overlapping arrangement is shown it is possible to make several rows of shingles with the same overlap, then increase the overlap in step fashion for several more rows and so on downwardly of the roof structure so as to achieve substantially the described effect.

The broken lines shown in Figures 1 and 2 are drawn along the top and bottom shingle surfaces and in Fig. 1 they show that the described construction results in a slight change in the pitch of the roof from that which would normally be determined by the slanting angularity of. the rafters 1. If this effect is considered undesirable it may be avoided by resorting to the construction shown by Fig. 2 wherein the furring strips, now numbered 4a, are made thicker at the top of the roof and progressively thinner in a downwardly direction. For example, the topmost furring strips may be square with the dimension gradually changing to the conventional size at the lowermost portion of the roof structure. By properly graduating the furring strip thicknesses the pitch line of the roof may be given the same angularity as the rafters 1.

Another object ice As in a conventional roof made of overlapped elements, a water-shed effect is provided so as to make the roof leaktight. In case of rain or bad weather the greatest roof erosion occurs along the lower parts of a slanting roof and it is these portions which generally go bad first so as to necessitate reroofing. With the present invention the effective thickness of the roof covering is considerably increased at the places where erosion is at a maximum, it following that a roof constructed in accordance with the present invention has the life of an unconventionally thick roof covering without the attendant cost of the latter.

One advantage of the present invention is that if desired the overlap of the shingles at the lower portions of the roof may follow standard building construction specifications, the overlap being made progressively less upwardly to the peak of the roof above the ridge pole. The standard overlap is adjusted to provide a roof of standard life which, in turn, erodes away fastest at its lowermost portions. Here the present invention would provide a standard roof thickness, and upwardly Where the thickness is not needed the roof would progressively thin with an attendant cost decrease which would permit a reduction in the overall cost of the building structure.

To some extent the same problem exists in the case of a clapboard siding for the wall of a building. Fig. 3 serves to show a siding made of overlapped clapboards 6 which are progressively overlapped more and more downwardly from the top of the wall to the sill of the house. A cross section is not considered necessary in view of Figures 1 and 2.

I claim:

1. A building structure covering at an angle to a horizontal plane and exposed to the weather, the lower portions of the covering being of greater thickness than the upper portions, said covering comprising downwardly overlapped elements of substantially the same size which are overlapped more extensively relative to each other at said lower portions to provide said greater thickness.

2. A building roof having a slanting shingled surface formed by downwardly overlapped shingles of substantially the same size which are overlapped more extensively at the lower portions than they are at the upper portions of the shingled surface, whereby to provide greater wearing thickness at the lower portions.

3. A building roof having a slanting shingled surface formed by downwardly overlapped shingles of the same size which are overlapped more extensively at the lower portions than they are at the upper portions of the shingled surface whereby to provide greater wearing thickness at the lower portions, the shingles being progressively less extensively overlapped upwardly to the upper portions.

4. A slanted roof structure comprising supporting rafters disposed at a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal plane, a plurality of furring strips secured to said rafters at spacedpositions thereon, the spacing between said strips decreasing progressively from the top to the bottom of said rafters, and a like plurality of shingles of the same size attached to said furring strips in downward overlapping relation to define a shingled surface wherein the shingles overlap more extensively relative to each other progressively from the top to the bottom of the rafters.

5. 'A slanted roof structure comprising supporting rafters disposed at a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal plane, a plurality of furring strips secured to said rafters at spaced positions thereon, the spacing between said strips decreasing progressively from the top to the bottom of said rafters, and a like plurality of shingles of the same size attached to said furring strips in downward overlapping relation to define a shingled surface wherein the shingles overlap more extensively relative to each other progressively from the top to the bottom of the rafters, said strips having respective thicknesses which decrease progressively from the top to the bottom of said rafters to an extent compensating for the increasing overlap of said shingles, whereby the pitch-line of said roof corresponds substantially to the angular position of the rafters.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

